Educating Children with ADHD Is Most Successful in a Brain Friendly Environment

Educating children with ADHD is most successful in a low
stress, brain friendly environment. Activities for children with ADHD are fun
and beneficial for all students so teaching the ADHD child becomes less about coping
with ADHD and more about educating children.

Characteristics of ADHD are an inability to focus, sit still,
and be quiet. In typical desk-and-row classrooms where the teacher does most of
the talking, these characteristics spell trouble for the child with ADHD. He
can’t sit still and be quiet, and when he focuses his attention on trying to do
those things, he is unable to focus on what the teacher is saying. He really
can’t win.

Educating children with ADHD in a neuro cognitive classroom
does not mean isolating them from their peers. It does means creating an effective environment that will support learning for everyone.

Students are expected to talk in
centers and cooperative groups, and there is freedom of movement and lower
stress. Lowering the lighting and using filters on overhead fluorescent bulbs tends
to calm down the entire room. If you don’t believe it, just read the reviews
for the light filters at Amazon!

Playing Baroque music softly in the background seems to
regulate my children, and they tell me that it masks noises from the hallway
which can distract them. So Bach and Vivaldi help all of my students focus –
not just the children with ADHD and ADD. The presence of a steady beat is in
large part responsible, and a metronome played quietly at times may also help.
Since resting heart rate is 60 beats per minute, this is the setting I always
use.

Activities for
Children With ADHD

Coordination Activities – Focus and attention problems are
often significantly improved through the systematic use of physical
coordination activities. Learning to jump rope individually, establishing a
steady beat by double hopping, is one of the most successful of these.

Focus Games – I have found that mazes and games with balls are
particularly effective for the high energy kids in my classroom who have
difficulty focusing. In addition to building focus, games with balls done with
the entire class builds a sense of family which helps ADHD kids feel that they
aren’t so different after all.

Clapping Games – The presence
of a steady beat regulates most children so clapping games are perfect for
educating ADHD children because they involve coordinated movement and music.

Fiddle Faddle

A high energy high school soccer player once told me that holding a tennis ball in class helped him concentrate because it gave him something to do with his hands while he listened. Since the best ideas come from students, I paid attention and decided the best choice for my class would be something that would not bounce or be a distraction.

I settled on these soft Hacky Sacks from Oriental Trading which can be given to ADHD kids to fiddle with during class. I always explain to them that the purpose is to help them concentrate by keeping their hands busy and that if it should become airborn that I have to put it in my desk for the rest of the day.

It really has worked well for most of my kids, and it seems to improve their ability to focus. Thanks, J.P.!

Brain Exercises and CoordinationBrain
exercises and physical coordination are benefits of physical education
because mind and body are connected. Certain physical coordination and
occupational therapy activities support learning.

Focus GamesFocus
games for children are helpful in building concentration skills.
Teachers and parents can work together to identify the causes of
focusing problems and teach kids how to focus.

Focus ProblemsIt is important to examine factors which could be
responsible for focus problems and find solutions with parents as partners.

For more information on helping special needs children in the classroom I highly recommend